Simple and clean way to convert JSON string to Object in Swift

Question

I have been searching for days to convert a fairly simple JSON string to an object type in Swift but with no avail.

Here is the code for web service call:

Answer 1

I wrote a library which makes working with json data and deserialization a breeze in Swift. You can get it here: https://github.com/isair/JSONHelper

Edit: I updated my library, you can now do it with just this:

class Business: Deserializable {
    var id: Int?
    var name = "N/A"  // This one has a default value.

    required init(data: [String: AnyObject]) {
        id <-- data["id"]
        name <-- data["name"]
    }
}

var businesses: [Business]()

Alamofire.request(.GET, "http://MyWebService/").responseString { (request, response, string, error) in
    businesses <-- string
}

Old Answer:

First, instead of using .responseString, use .response to get a response object. Then change your code to:

func getAllBusinesses() {

    Alamofire.request(.GET, "http://MyWebService/").response { (request, response, data, error) in
        var businesses: [Business]?

        businesses <-- data

        if businesses == nil {
            // Data was not structured as expected and deserialization failed, do something.
        } else {
            // Do something with your businesses array. 
        }
    }
}

And you need to make a Business class like this:

class Business: Deserializable {
    var id: Int?
    var name = "N/A"  // This one has a default value.

    required init(data: [String: AnyObject]) {
        id <-- data["id"]
        name <-- data["name"]
    }
}

You can find the full documentation on my GitHub repo. Have fun!